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“Lucas, Andrei, this is JB,” Noah said as he settled in next to Snow.
Rowe pulled out a chair for JB, whose thigh had a huge bandage around it under another pair of khaki shorts. Andrei came forward to shake his hand after he settled.
“You didn’t call me and fill me in,” Lucas said after nodding politely to JB. He turned the full force of his frown on Rowe. “Then I get a call from Snow telling me he drove out to fix a bullet wound in the middle of the night. A bullet wound, Rowe! What the hell?”
“You could have kept that part to yourself,” Rowe growled to Snow.
“And ruin my fun? Never.” Snow winked.
“I didn’t have a chance to call. We had all kinds of craziness happening over the last few days and it’s not over with.” He filled them in on what had happened—from the first shooting at Noah, to last night and the Clayborne office. Even Snow blinked in shock.
“You blew up his building? Blew it up?” Snow chuckled and shook his head. “Damn, Ward.”
“And pulled it off. You see any police here?” He blew on his knuckles and brushed them over his shirt.
Lucas frowned harder. “Next time, call me even if it’s two in the morning. Wasn’t sleeping for worrying anyway.”
His heart just turned over. Lucas sometimes acted like his father, but he knew the man came from a place of love. He was also just nosy as hell.
“I’m hurt that you didn’t involve us in your little party,” Snow said. “I’ve never had the chance to blow up an entire building.”
Lucas made a noise in the back of his throat and glared at Snow. “We blew up a fracking oil field in Oklahoma,” he reminded him.
“Yeah, but we didn’t do it on purpose,” Snow replied.
Rowe gave a sad little sigh. “It would have been so much cooler if we did.”
JB reached out and tapped on Rowe’s shoulder. “I want to hear that story later.”
“You know he’s going to come after you three here now,” Snow said, crossing an ankle over his knee. “I would if I was him.”
“I brought him onto our turf on purpose. I’ve got a plan.” He couldn’t stop his grin, and he knew it was wicked when Lucas shook his head.
“Plan to share it?” Lucas asked.
“Soon. I’m still working out the kinks in my head.”
“Well, whatever you do, don’t take long. Like Snow, I doubt this Erik is going to put off coming here.”
“And whatever it is, I’m in,” Andrei said.
Lucas started to open his mouth, and Andrei held up a hand. Neither said a word but plenty passed between them before Lucas nodded, a small smile turning up one corner of his lips. He only stayed long enough to berate Rowe a little more, then left to get his daughter. Apparently, one of the bodyguards had her downstairs. Snow followed him, always up for a little Daciana time. Quinn came by and called Noah into the tech room.
Andrei stayed to fill him in on what had happened while they were gone. He’d interviewed another person for the bodyguard position and found someone he liked. Because Rowe trusted his judgment, he told him to go ahead and hire him. Turned out, it was a woman.
“Hot damn, that’s good news.” They’d had a few requests for female bodyguards, so this was fantastic. “What’s her specialty?”
“Kicking ass. She’s into MMA. Took down Garrett.”
Rowe whistled because Garrett was hard to beat with his kickboxing skills and long, lethal legs.
Once Andrei returned to his office to call her, Rowe was left with only JB in the office. It was the first time they’d been left alone since the first night. “How’s your leg?”
“Hurts like a motherfucker.” He knew Snow had offered good painkillers, but he understood that JB wanted to remain sharp right now. Far as he knew, the guy was working on only Tylenol.
“You handled yourself well out there. Ever thought about working security? We have job openings, and I’d be happy to have you on board.”
“Nah, I like it on the ranch. And I’m glad to have left the chaos and explosions behind. This was enough of a taste to remind me of that.”
Rowe nodded, understanding. He stared at the man, once again remembering that this had been someone who’d been intimate with his man. The jealousy had toned down some, thank goodness, but he still felt there were a few things he needed to say. He glanced out the window of his office to see Noah still down the hall.
“You were in love with him, weren’t you?” Rowe asked, watching JB’s face. The man looked away from him a moment, then shrugged.
“Yes. But I wouldn’t step on your toes, and it wouldn’t matter even if I tried. Noah loves you. Always did.”
“You still are.” This time it wasn’t a question because he could tell just by the way the man had looked at Noah. By the way he spoke.
